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A glimpse into the workings of the baby brain: MRI scans reveal surprising similarities in activity patterns of infant and adult visual cortex.

January 11, 2017

Neuroscientists at MIT have adapted their MRI scanner to make it easier to scan infants’ brains as the babies watch movies featuring different types of visual input. With the new technique, the team found that in some ways, the organization of infants’ brains is surprisingly similar to that of adults. Specifically, brain regions that respond to faces in adults do the same in babies, as do regions that respond to scenes.